In it, I questioned all the pink ribbons being slapped on everything from cell phones to chocolate bars; and wondered out loud about corporate profit-teering from an illness that is hurting so many of us. I didn’t have any easy answers, and instead decided that rather than promote one of the many pink campaigns landing in my email box from PR firms to share some tips for early prevention.

With the Susan G. Komen Foundation in hot water, the issue of pink-washing is top of mind with many bloggers. For me, with a good friend preparing for chemo, cancer has been on my mind daily. So when I came across Annie’s most excellent post at PhD in Parenting titled “Cancer Sucks, Pink is Profitable, and Cures are Magically Blameless,” I had to share it with you.

She starts her post by admitting “that I haven’t always questioned pink washing as carefully as I should in the past.” This, I’m sure, we can all admit to. It feels good to buy pink … to feel like we’re contributing to a worthy and important cause.

However, she concludes, with the help of a documentary titled Pink Ribbons Inc., that pink is only profitable if it focuses on finding a cure–not prevention. Her words:

The bulk of breast cancer research money in past years has gone into researching a cure. In the movie, they note that only 3 to 5 percent of funds go towards prevention of breast cancer.  In Canada, around 6.5 percent of money raised goes towards research into risk factors and risk reduction. Why is the number so low?

• Is it because the prospect of a cure generates hope and therefore attracts more research dollars?
• Is it because the focus on the cure doesn’t upset any corporate sponsors that may be contributing to the cause?
• Is it because preventing cancer may dry up the enormous cash cow that pink ribbon campaigns have become?

And yet, more than anything, we need to find out why cancer rates are high and what we can do as a society in terms of prevention.

This image is not from a real campaign but illustrates an all-too-familiar corporate dichotomy. Image source.

Let’s demand accountability in exchange for our donation dollars.

To read more on this issue, please check out Annie’s post in full here, as well as by visiting Breast Cancer Action.

Edited to add: No, I’m not being a spoil-sport when I don’t play along with your “what colour” bra are you wearing meme on Facebook. It’s a f*cking terrible idea, people! (And you know I rarely swear on this blog, so I’m pretty serious here.) Please read this post at Toddler Planet to understand why. 

And another thing I’d like to add as well: As one reader as been so good as to share, the Komen story has evolved since I wrote this post. There’s a lot I didn’t know about this organization. You can learn more by reading this post by Jessica Gottlieb. I warn you though, it might make you feel like vomiting.

I don’t know about you, but I just love poking around people’s bookshelves and knowing what people have cracked open and set their minds to. So I thought I’d return the favour, so to speak.

This month, I will update my widget to show the following books that are currently sitting bedside — some waiting patiently, some already started.

The Meaning of Children by Beverly Akerman

I wasn’t sure what to make of this book when I first heard the title and saw the cover. I thought perhaps it was a non-fiction piece when Annie from PhD in Parenting suggested a few of us head out to the author’s reading when Akerman, a Canadian writer, was in town. But it is actually a collection of 14 short stories — each unique in its own tale and perspective. Katherine Hewitt of the Globe and Mail sums it up nicely: “Each story is an independent experiment, with varying results. But the sum of its parts is positive.” I really enjoyed this book. If you like short story collections a la Alice Munro style, I think you will too.

Enchantment, by Guy Kawasaki

I picked up Enchantment to participate in the Business Book Club that Karen at The Media Mesh started up. I haven’t started the book yet, but I’m really interested to participate as soon as I can get it read. Mostly, I’ve been wanting to read it because I admire everything that Kawasaki has achieved — he founded Alltop.com, held a key role at Apple, and is the author of 10 books. Not too shabby, eh? The book has become a sort of touch point in marketing circles, and I’d like to understand all the buzz.

The Hundred Dresses, by Eleanor Estes

I was inspired by a recent post by Andrea on her blog A Peek Inside the Fishbowl to start up a Mother-Daughter Book Club. I reached out to a few girlfriends who had daughters the same age as Stella and shared the idea and they immediately jumped on board. For our first book, one of my friends suggested The Hundred Dresses because, although it was originally written in 1944, it touches on the timely topic of bullying.

One Day, by David Nicolls

I had started to read the book Sarah’s Key but was really finding the material too emotionally disturbing, so I reached out to my Twitter folks for a “light reading” suggestion. I can’t quite remember who suggested this One Day, but I picked it up and couldn’t put it back down. It seems I was not the only one who read it compulsively, as this NY Times review attests, and now it is being made into a movie with Anne Hathaway. It is an interesting take on the classic Ross-Rachel long suffering, unrequited love story.

The Wealthy Barber Returns, by David Chilton

If you’re of my vintage, you’ll recall the original Wealthy Barber book, which was released in 1989 and was a hit with its story-telling format for finance lessons. I recall this book, handed to me by my parents I think, as a welcoming way of learning about managing your own personal finances. I’m about 3/4 through this book of Chilton’s and I’m finding it just “okay.” I suppose if I was a young person who was just starting out and needed to learn the basics, I’d appreciate it far more. But as it is, I am not gleaning much in the way of new insight and his jokey humour is starting to wear on me. However, Chilton’s approachable style to finance remains a breath of fresh air, and I’m definitely getting some good reminder notes.

Okay, so let’s be real … I have way more books than this stacked up high, teetering away on my bedside table (it’s a bit of a “problem,” says Hubby), but I am going to take a rest here. So tell me, what’s on your shelf?

January 2011: The new year started on a very high note when I found out that Coffee with Julie had placed 2nd and 3rd in two Canadian Weblog Awards. Then I started a thread of posts on over-consumption (I had so many other posts I wanted to write about on this topic, but never seemed to find the time to piece them together), that included a fabulous guest post by Pam Dillon. By mid-month, I had already faltered on some of my New Year’s resolutions. And finally, I gave up all pretenses of not being a social media geek and instead proudly announced this with a new piece of jewelry. In total, I wrote 12 posts that month.

February 2011: My grandmother turned 87 in this month, and I wrote about the passage of time. The nostalgic themes continued with a post on my first kiss, and a few other ramblings. In total, I wrote 7 posts in February.

March 2011: In this month, I had my first piece published in Parent & Child magazine and it was based on a birthday post from Coffee with Julie. I also shared a really spooky ghost story and jumped on the bandwagon to comment on “The Tiger Mom” concept embraced by Amy Chua. In total, I wrote 9 posts.

April 2011: This was a busy time for our family because we were getting the house that we’d lived in for 14 years ready for sale. I wrote a semi-pathetic sort of rambling letter to my blog explaining my lack of posts. And we were all quite shaken from witnessing our neighbour’s house go up in flames. In total, I wrote 8 posts.

May 2011: This was a fun month because I was given the opportunity to attend Blog World & New Media Expo in New York City for my work. I didn’t write much about it but did manage to share the trip via tweets. But my absolute favourite post from this month was “A conversation about Twitter and DH.” I wrote a total of 5 published posts and 1 still in draft titled “Misery thy name is OUTDOOR bootcamp.” (Related: I quit Bootcamp in May.)

June 2011: With the end of the school year came the bi-annual conundrum of what kind of teacher gift is appropriate (if any). I also wrote about QR codes and LinkedIn, but in the background we had sold our home — the first home and the only one our children had known — and I had anxiety about change on the mind. Oh, and Stella got a buckle fracture on her arm from rough-housing around outside. In total, I wrote 9 posts and 2 additional posts are still sitting there in draft format (poor neglected things!).

With each year, time passes more quickly. And that’s why this blog is so special to me … it is a chronicle of my life and looking back through the first 6 months of 2011 has brought back all sorts of great memories. Tomorrow, I’ll look at the final 6 months of 2011. Thanks for joining me on this trip down memory lane! Happy New Year to us All! xox

After making my first visit to the largest Ikea in Canada, I find this rather perplexing since I would much rather shop at my local Walmart than my new, huge, local Ikea, that’s for sure. Perhaps it’s that Ikea, with its design aesthetic and clever ads, is just more trendy and easier to like? More, how shall we say … yuppie.

I’m sure there are lots of sophisticated reasons for hating Walmart more than Ikea, but really, I think we’ve all probably been too gentle on our Swedish friend. Both pay their employees low wages, both have a significant impact on landscape due to the sheer size of their stores, both list China as a major supplier, and both encourage mass consumption.

But let’s put aside the “big perspective,” for a moment and let me rant, as an individual, about how irksome my recent shopping experience was at Ikea.

1. Reserved Parking for Hybrid Vehicles: As I pulled into the parking lot, I noticed a whole bunch of available parking spots right near the front. I assumed these spots were reserved for drivers with disabilities. But nooooo … these were for hybrid vehicles. Ha! Who does Ikea think its target market really is? The people shopping at Ikea are driving in from the suburbs in their mini-vans and SUVs or hitching a ride with their roommate in a beat-up second-hand car. Silly Ikea. Those hybrid car owners are strolling about their local, gentrified neighbourhood boutiques. So, there they sat — all these prime parking spots — empty.

2. No Windows: Enclosed spaces are not for humans. They might be necessary for transporting humans — like elevators or airplanes — but they are generally unpleasant. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be building codes for bedrooms to have windows, or office designs built around windows. Windows are pleasant. There are no windows where the products are in Ikea stores. It’s the same premise that casinos use, which helps people lose track of time and spend more money. Ikea’s funneling system (see #3) seems to magnify the effect that no windows has upon me.

3. The Lab Rat Syndrome: All Ikeas are built to push consumers past every single one of their wares. It is a single funnel that you are extruded through like an object or animal …. or, well, worse. The smaller Ikea we had in Ottawa did this of course, but its scale was so much smaller that it was merely irksome. On this more massive, larger scale? We moved between feeling like cattle being prodded through to the slaughterhouse to lab rats being observed from up high as we muddled through a maze. It felt uncomfortable. Too controlled. I had to fight an overwhelming sensation to run madly screaming, “Help! Where’s the exit?!”

4. Enviro-Cool: It seems that Ikea has jumped on the enviro-cool wagon. I’m all for enviro-friendly, but enviro-cool is just grating. Take the hybrid parking noted above. This is touted as one of their many eco-friendly features. But who are they kidding? All Ikea furniture is destined for the landfill — it cannot be passed down from generation to generation, heck, it can’t even be used second-hand because it won’t last long enough for that! Another stat used in virtually every press release and blog post that I read noted that this Ottawa Ikea store was 40% more efficient than its last store. Sure, that’s great … but if it really wanted to be enviro-friendly, it wouldn’t be the 18 times larger than the arena at ScotiaBank Place! The size is just crazy big. Too big, in fact, to be enjoyable (see #3).

Photography credit: Julie Oliver, Ottawa Citizen.

5. The Ottawa Sky-Line: Anyone who has recently driven eastward from Kanata on the Queensway on the way home from work has wondered: “Huh? What is that large light?” Only to find that it is the new, huge electronic billboard on the side of the Ikea building. Change to the horizon and our day-to-day landscape is inevitable, but this one is so ugly that it’s hard not to feel a little put out by it.

So there we have it: why I did not enjoy shopping in the new and “improved” Ottawa Ikea. In this case, I didn’t find bigger to be better. You? Love or hate, share your tales in the comments below.

Granted, there were always far more books than art. Much of the artwork that we had on the walls when I was a kid was of his own creation. He’s a very talented painter. But as time went on, and the house filled with more children, he had much less time to devote to his painting. But the books, they were always there. My dad always — always — has at least one book on the go.

I’m not sure where he acquired this taste for books and art. He grew up in a house with little money, and although both his parents were literate, I don’t recall a lot of books in my grandparents’ home. (Although I do recall with great fondness how my grandfather would pull you over to share an article from the newspaper. It made me feel special that he wanted to share it with me.) As for art, well … there was a massive velvet matador rug hanging on a wall. Let’s just leave it at that.

As for where I acquired this somewhat irrational need, especially in this day of e-readers, to surround myself with pretty paper bound together … I place the blame squarely on my father’s shoulders. I must have observed him with his nose in a book so many countless times that I concluded books were like a magical spell to which one happily surrendered themselves. In fact, as of late, I have joined the crowds on pinterest (an online bulletin board that allows you to pin up items that you find of interest and enjoy a voyeuristic tour of the pin boards of others), and I have a board titled “Books are little lovers.” Because, really, besides a book, what could hold a person’s attention with such force other than a new lover?

It will come as no surprise to you then that when I took my recent trip to New York City, beautiful book stores were visited. One of these was in a Brooklyn neighbourhood called Williamsburg. Home to artists and indie bands, and more recently, a gentrified collection of boutiques and shops, my friend Kerry and I were staying in a nearby area of Brooklyn and we toured over to Williamsburg on foot.

As soon as you walk in, your heartbeat slows and you melt into the vibe of Spoonbill & Sugartown Booksellers.

First opened in 1999, this bookstore specializes in both new and used books — contemporary art, design, architecture, photography, philosophy, and literature. Although I could spend an entire day in practically any bookstore, I know for certain that I could have spent at least two days in this one. Which is saying quite a bit since they are open from 10 am to 10 pm every day of the week!

Needless to say, I did not leave empty-handed. For Hubby, I found this really interesting used book titled The places of houses: Three architects suggest ways to build and inhabit houses.

Published in 1974, the authors believe that there are three elements fundamental to a successful house: rooms to live in, machines that serve life, and the dreams of the inhabitants. As someone who pours his soul into everything he builds, I really thought he’d enjoy this book.

I also picked up a book for my three-year-old son Max. Impossible to resist, I am a Bunny is a recreation of an original Golden book first published in 1963.

I loved the large images, with simple text. There’s much more to this book that I love, but I just don’t have the right words to describe it. And Max, as I suspected, adores it too.

Now, do I need to admit that I also treated myself to a book? Well of course, mes amis! It was “Month of Me,” wasn’t it? So, the book that I picked up for myself has a NYC beat to it. Titled Netherland, the publisher description reads:

“Unexpectedly finding himself marooned among the strange occupants of New York’s Chelsea Hotel, feeling lost in the country he has come to regard as home, Hans van den Brock begins an unlikely friendship with Chuck Ramkissoon, a charming Trinidadian who introduces Hands to an “other” America populated by immigrants and strivers of every race and nationality.”

I wish I could say I’ve read it. But for now, it sits prettily on the mighty stack of books by my bed. I have a lot of books waiting to be read. They are all so lovely;  just having them around makes me happy.

Disclosure: if you click on one of the book images above, the links are what are called “affiliate” links. What this means is that if you buy a book from one of my links, I will receive a 4% commission from the total price of the sale. So, if you are going to buy one of these books, please use my links because I will get rich if you do. Rich! Rich, I tell ya!

Okay, so I’m back in Toronto. Again. For a blogging conference. Again.

I know … to most of you, this just sounds coo-coo! And I certainly don’t blame you for thinking that. But hey, it’s my month and I do love me some bloggers and some blogging fun. So I am here to partake in the bliss that is Blissdom Canada, a major conference that focuses on social media, blogging, marketing, and public relations. Plus, lots of connecting with women from all walks of life, with so many diverse talents.

I was already very keen to come to Blissdom Canada, and then I received an invite to participate at the event as a Tribe Leader for Travel, so it was a no-brainer — I was not going to miss it!

All of the Blissdom attendees were treated to an opening night reception at CBC’s home. To get from our conference hotel to the CBC building, we were chauffeured in Chevrolet Orlandos (a car that has flip-up seats that give you the space of a mini-van, but still drives like a car). We got all doll’d up and felt pretty special.

That’s my buddy Andrea and I. She’s pretty much a celebrity now (Which she can’t stand me saying. But, if you click here, you’ll see what I mean. Plus you can probably even see the pores on her face the photo of her is so large! I think she’ll love that I said that too.) It is actually quite difficult to bask in her starlight since she’s the modest type, but I still do my best.

Speaking of trying to get a little star dust …. here are some of my fun photos from the CBC Live party! Above is a terrible photo, but it gives me a lovely memory kick-back to the little “squee!” feeling I had when arriving to this stunning building, only to find a red carpet laid out for us and photographers waiting inside.

Ann Douglas has been my personal hero since finding myself increasing depressed (and distressed!) when I was first pregnant in 2002 and reading What to Expect When You’re Expecting. I was so relieved to find Ann’s book The Mother of All Pregnancy Books, with its warm, calm and intelligent tone. Since then, I pretty much try to read everything she writes. She is quite active on twitter and we chat every now and then, and last night, I got to meet her in person for the first time. She gave me such a big warm hug! Meeting her made me very happy. The rest of the conference was just going to be icing now.

On the far left of this picture is Nora Young, who is host of CBC’s show Spark. Most of us in the Ottawa bloggy community (standing beside Nora is Dani, Shannon, Karen, and Andrea on the end) are a little ga-ga over CBC Radio in general, but to meet Nora Young? Well, everyone was trying to act cool and not totally star struck!

And last but not least, I tried to get a photo with Casey. You know — Casey, from Mr. Dressup! Remember Casey?

But no dice. I knocked on his door, but it must have been past his bedtime or something.

CBC Live also covered the event and posted a great video with live footage. If you’re interested, you can check it out here.

Like most women my age, I have friends, family, colleagues, and acquaintances who’ve had to face this diagnosis and live through it the best way they can. Some have been more fortunate than others. And I am so grateful for those who still stand beside me and have been able to resume a life a of mothering, and working, and living all that regular life entails when you are not sick.

I also know it’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month because my email box tied to this blog is filling up with “pitches” for me to help raise awareness. But it’s not a request to create awareness around how to do a self breast-exam, or how research dollars are making a difference, or even how fundraising dollars are helping women of low-income families to receive treatments in countries that don’t have socialized health care. These pitches are to raise awareness about the company’s particular cause marketing campaign related to Breast Cancer Awareness Month — i.e. we have a pink-coloured product, that when purchased will result in a donation of $X to X charity.

When I receive charitable requests, I always consider them. They certainly pull my strings more than any other kind of request. But in reading a few of these, I didn’t quite feel “right.”

What’s wrong with pink marketing?

In theory, if I needed to buy a particular product and it also happened to result in a donation if I buy the product, it’s a win-win, right? But the more products that are turning pink, the more I start to think that this must be a profitable endeavour. Just like selling a “green-ified” product is au courant, so it seems is the “pink-ified” product.

Yet, we all know that not all “green” products are actually doing much for the environment. Rather the term “green” is simply a way to help sell more product. Thus the term “green-washing.” And, in turn, a new term “pink-washing” is being used by a number of organizations.

Breast Cancer Action, in particular, is a strong voice on this issue of “pink-washing.” This organization has produced a list of critical questions to ask yourself before buying pink. These five questions are:

• 1. How much money from your purchase actually goes towards breast cancer?
• 2. What is the maximum amount that will be donated?
• 3. How are the funds being raised?
• 4. To what breast cancer organization does the money go, and what types of programs does it support?
• 5. What is the company doing to assure that its products are not actually contributing to the breast cancer epidemic?

To learn more about the rationale and concerns that lay behind these questions, click over to the Think Before You Pink site. While I cannot refute the fact that pink marketing has raises millions of dollars over the years, I still think these questions are important to ask before pulling out your wallet.

So yesterday started off very bright and early (actually, why is it “bright” and early because, really, it’s “dark” when you need to get up early, isn’t it?)! Me and my bloggy buddy Andrea (otherwise known as @missfish and she is AWESOME  and she totally didn’t lock the keys in her car) drove to Toronto to attend the first day of the She’s So Connected Conference.

We had planned to arrive just in time to hear the opening keynote, but alas, we were a touch late. Thankfully, we did catch the end-half though, because it was given by Sheryl Connelly, who works with Ford Motor Company as a Futurist. Yes, a Futurist — fascinating, dream job, me thinks. She was very articulate and had an excellent presentation deck to share with us, so I was relieved that we had managed to squeeze ourselves into the back of the room.

Then, after the keynote, there was a lot of mixing and networking to kick off Day One. Here’s a photo recap of some of the fun stuff.

Ford Canada did a great job with their set-up here at She’s So Connected. There was “car-eoke” where you could sing karoke while sitting in a red sports car, test drives of their auto-parking feature, and tons of others things. One of my faves though was this video race set-up. I tried it and crashed so many times, it was hilarious. Here, my buddies Lara Wellman and Andrea Tomkins are having a go.

I have no idea who these weiners are!

Friends from our Ottawa social media contingent enjoying nice, cold Molson Canadian 67 Sublime beers, which has a new lime and lemon twist that I liked.

But as much as a enjoyed this light beer all on its own, I have to say that this cocktail, made with beer and not spirits was even better! It was crushed ice, frozen blueberries, simple syrup and a top of beer and a sprig of basil. Mmmm….

And of course, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the #ShoesConnected after-conference party at the Town Shoes flagship store on Toronto’s Bloor Street. It was two-floors of good times …. fancy finger foods, wine, music, and shoes-shoes-shoes!

After a good long look around at all the shoes (I won’t even go into the bags … oh, they were nice too!), I decided that these Miz Mooz boots were my true love. But alas, I held to my budget and did not make the purchase (you are proud of me, aren’t you??!)

I’ve decided to kick off the #MonthofMe a little early. I was invited to a conference called ShesConnected, which takes place on September 29th and 30th.

I was curious about this invite-only conference that aims to connect Canada’s “digital women” with brands, but the timing was terrible. For a number of reasons, not the least of which was the time I’d have to book off work and the cost of attending (the conference itself is free for the chosen digital women, but you still need to get yourself there and have a place to lay your head at night), I was going to reluctantly decline.

But then the agenda was released. Unlike many conferences which are a parade of successful men speakers, this one had some really fabulous women speakers lined up. These were women I’d really love to hear from.

So I was really sitting on the fence at this point. I could manage to squeeze it into my schedule, but it wouldn’t be easy — I’d need to start the drive up to Toronto early Thursday am and then do the drive back on Friday, arriving home late after the kids were already in bed. Before collapsing in bed, I’d need to unpack from Toronto, and pack up for New York City, since my girlfriend would be picking me up early Saturday am to make the long drive to the Big Apple together. Hectic, right?

I try to avoid hectic.

And yet, I’m going for sure now. Why, you ask? What pushed me off the fence?

Here’s what: a post-conference party is being held from 7 to 9 pm at Town Shoes on Bloor Street called “ShoesConnected”!

You know what I say to that? SOLD!

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Here is how Jordan and Brian explain the Project Priceless wedding on their website.

Project: Priceless is an experiment. The goal: to get Brian and Jordan married in the next year, as free-of-charge as possible. The method: the happy couple will borrow, trade, and accept offers of all the items and services that make up a wedding. Everyone who contributes to the occasion gets a shout-out, and any businesses or artisans who contribute get big shout-outs. Contribute, or follow along just for fun to see how things are going.

Can a community chip in and create a priceless wedding for an awesome couple? Let’s find out…

*******

I do love a wedding. But mostly, if I’m honest, I think I love weddings because they allow me to be flooded with all the memories of my own wedding, 15 years ago.

While so much of Jordan and Brian’s wedding was radically different than my own (like the Chaplan, Dr. Alan Viau, inviting all the guests to use the wedding hashtag and tweet out photos, for example!), there was so much love in the air that while my body was sitting in the fairytale setting of Stanley’s Olde Maple Lane Farm with the sun shining down on this young couple …

… my heart was under century-old gum trees in southern Australia, saying “I do” one more time …

While our decor for the reception was freshly cut sunflowers that had been lovingly grown from seeds by my mother-in-law and her husband on their farm, the Project Priceless decor included bright green and purple pom-poms that a friend had taught them out to make:

I’m sure you’ll agree that this decor looks fabulous! It was so fresh and fun, I just loved it. But what really made it all so especially cool were the personal touches. Imagine my delight, for example, when I sat at my place-setting and found a handwritten and handcrafted card thank-you card.

In fact, absolutely everything was handcrafted! Countless — countless! — hours must have gone into the preparations.

And in case you’re wondering why there were crayons in the photo above, it’s because each place-setting had one of those paper placements like they provide to children in restaurants to keep them busy. On it, guests were invited to complete a custom crossword puzzle as well as to doodle a picture of the bride and groom.

There were also a number of new traditions that, if I were to be married today, I would certainly love to incorporate into my wedding. I think I already mentioned the wedding tattoos. I love the idea of wedding tattoos, and I love this specific tattoo that Jordan and Brian had created by artist Sarah Rogers of Living Colour Tattoo.

I also think a candy table is, of course, pure genius! This table in particular was particularly amazing because it was from none other than The Candy Store. Oh so good! And all colour-coordinated to match the wedding colours of green, orange and purple!

And I would certainly follow this tradition: An In-Spirit Table. For so many reasons, I thought this was really special. This table was a collection of memorabilia from those who could not make it to the wedding, as well as those who had already passed on. These people were there “in spirit.”

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At the end of the evening, when the cake had been cut, the first dances had been had, and I felt I had done the best job I could as a live-tweeter, I slipped out into the evening air back to the parking lot to drive myself home.

I looked up and took a moment to admire the stars, so bright in the country sky. I had only been here at this wedding for but a few hours, and yet, it felt like I’d been wisked away to somewhere magical.

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When I got home, Hubby asked me how it had all gone. I told him it had been wonderful, just wonderful. Still slightly baffled by it all, he said, “Why was it called ‘project priceless’? Because it hadn’t cost them anything?”

I said, yes, I guess so. But I knew it was so much more. This social experiment was much more than a wedding without a price tag. So much more.